Remembering Workplace Safety

On this page:

In the U.S., the rate of fatal work injuries has not decreased for the last three years, even though employers are required by law to provide a workplace free of known hazards. This week, we remember all those workers killed or injured in the workplace.

We will remember fallen workers like:

Two 14-year-old girls were electrocuted in a field by a pivot irrigator in Tampico, Ill.

Two brothers, 16 and 22, died from exposure to fumes in a confined space while working at a compost center in Lamont, Calif.

In Illinois, two teenage boys, 14 and 19, suffocated when trapped 30 feet deep in corn; the teens were “walking down the corn” to make it flow while the machine was running.

In Oklahoma, two 17-year-olds suffered leg amputations after they became caught in an inadequately guarded grain conveyor while cleaning out a grain storage structure.

This week, we will do as Mary Harris “Mother” Jones said, “pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”

Construction, transportation, warehousing, agriculture, forestry are some of the most dangerous industries. Most of the occupational fatalities are preventable due to:

An employer’s negligence to establish effective controls

Lack of proper training on how to perform the job

Safe use of tools and equipment, and on health and safety; long working hours

The path to safer workplaces includes new regulations, stricter enforcement of existing regulations, and employers and employees training among other actions.

Saturday, April 28, is International Workers Memorial Day, and unions, worker justice organizations, activists, religious groups and worker centers are organizing and participating in actions to continue the fight for safe workplaces. Join IWJ affiliates and allies this week!